S.D. Florida cuts commercial fee award 35.1%, including for clerical work

What happened

The defendants sought $772,829 in attorney fees. The court awarded $501,565, a reduction of $271,264 or 35.1%. It excluded 24.1 hours spent on a cross-appeal and jurisdictional question, reduced the hourly rates for Ms. van de Berg and Ms. David, and applied a 30% cut to total hours for excessive hours, duplicative staffing, clerical work billed as legal work, and fees on fees.

What the court said

it appears that some reduction is warranted for billing for clerical work

The court also reduced the award for: unrelated claims, hourly rate reduced, excessive hours, duplicative staffing, fees on fees.

Why it matters

The ruling shows courts examine time records for tasks unrelated to the fee-bearing claims, for multiple attorneys billing the same task, for clerical work, and for fee litigation where entitlement was not disputed, and may apply a percentage cut across the hours rather than parse each entry.

How to keep this out of your fee petition

• Leave purely clerical work off the fee petition.
• Describe paralegal tasks so the substantive work is clear.
• Split mixed entries into their substantive and clerical parts.

Cite this ruling

See hourly rates the S.D. Florida approves and attorney fee motions in Florida federal courts.

Figures and quotes are taken from the opinion and checked against its text. Spot an error? Email team@legaltime.ai with the case name and we will correct it. Summaries of public court opinions. Not legal advice.